RESPROUTING CAPACITY FROM CUT STUMP OF Camellia sasanqua THUNB FOR FRUIT PRODUCTION

Oil extracted from fruits of Camellia sasanqua Thunb has been widely used for cooking, ink, lubricant, and cosmetic production. C. sasanqua has been widely planted in Vietnam with total area coverage of around 6,000 ha. A number of plantations are more than 60 years old, leading to reduced fruit production. Replanting requires high investment and takes a long time to fruit. While resprouting takes a much shorter time to fruit. In this study, the C. sasanqua plantation, which was established in 1961, was used for the experiment. Trees were selected randomly, and trunks were cut at a height of 4–6 m from the ground for resprouting. Shoot number was counted and shoot length was measured at 1, 2, and 3 years of growth. The results indicated that at 1 year of growth there were 93.9 shoots/trunk, reducing to 78.6 shoots/trunk at 2 years of growth, and 42.3 shoots/trunk at 3 years of growth. The higher shoot number of longer shoots was found in the older growth age; at 3 years of growth, 5.8 shoots/trunk in 50–75 cm height class, and 21.1 shoots/trunk in > 100 cm height class. There was a positive regression between stump diameter and shoot number, and between stump height and shoot number. This indicates that only a trunk of > 5 cm in diameter should be cut for resprouting and cutting point should be > 4 m from the ground. The numerous shoots in the first year of growth indicate that pruning small-sized and bad growth shoots must be conducted to promote remained shoots for better growth.